So, the Daily Mail has revealed that Joan R. Ginther, a woman who has won the Texas lottery four (4) times, isn't just lucky. She has a Stanford PhD (in statistics) and once taught math. According to a University of Nevada prof, she could have figured out, from information on the ticket, or from external information, which tickets were likely to be winners. The Texas lottery commission seems unfazed, saying she's just lucky, and people in the town where she bought her tickets thinks God must have smiled on her. In any case, she doesn't seem to have done anything odd except won a whole lot of money against the odds, perhaps by using her education and critical thinking. I like those odds, a lot.
More here in a Harper's article by Nathaniel Rich (readable text available only to subscribers, however).
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